Prescriptive Stereotypes Research Articles

Trait inferences from the “big two” produce gendered expectations of facial features

Prescriptive stereotypes based on, respectively, agency and communality reflect how people expect men and women to behave. Deviating from such prescriptions limits opportunities for men and women in ways that reinforce traditional gender roles. In the current work, we examine whether people have expectations of gendered facial features based on agentic and communal descriptions of targets and if these expectations extend to who people think is best suited for workplace tasks. Across five experiments, people expected more facial masculinity for targets paired with agentic relative to communal traits (Experiments 1, 2a-b) and workplace behaviors (Experiments 3a-b). This expectation effect emerged when gendered facial features (e.g., more masculinized and feminized versions of face identities) were manipulated across (Experiment 1) and within (Experiments 2a-b, 3a-b) gender, regardless of whether traits were explicitly stated (Experiments 1, 2a-b, 3a) or inferred (Experiment 3b), and regardless of trait valence. When people made decisions about two same-gender faces, the gender of those faces accentuated trait effects. More masculine male (relative to female) faces were consistently expected more for agentic traits and workplace tasks, but consistently expected less for communal traits and workplace tasks (Experiments 2a, 3a-b). We then conceptually replicated expectation effects by showing that mental representations of agentic and communal faces appear correspondingly gendered (Experiment 4). Finally, we provide exploratory analyses showing that expectation effects may differentially vary by perceiver gender across contexts. These findings illustrate a non-verbal route by which people make decisions based on gender stereotypes that have wide-ranging implications for workplace behavior.

Prescriptive stereotypes, negative attitudes toward older adults, and social participation: surveys on younger and older Japanese

Prescriptive stereotypes, negative attitudes toward older adults, and social participation: surveys on younger and older Japanese

Does Culture Moderate Gender Stereotypes? Individualism Predicts Communal (but Not Agentic) Prescriptions for Men Across 62 Nations

The cultural moderation of gender stereotypes hypothesis argues that societies assign the most culturally valued traits to men, the dominant group. Thus, in line with cultural ideals, collectivistic societies should assign men more communality, whereas individualistic societies should assign men more individualism. Using archival data, Cuddy et al. found evidence for cultural moderation in descriptive stereotypes. We argue, however, that cultural moderation should be tested using prescriptive stereotypes, which more directly reflect cultural ideals about how men and women should be. We also provide a more robust test using contemporary data from 62 countries from the Towards Gender Harmony project ( N = 27,391), allowing multilevel modeling techniques. We found evidence for cultural moderation for communal (though not agentic) traits: Collectivistic (compared to individualistic) nations prescribed relatively more communal traits to men. Thus, we show that prescriptions for men gravitate more toward core cultural values than prescriptions for women.

Investigating gendered reactions to manager mistreatment: Testing the presumed role of prescriptive stereotypes

SummaryEmerging research demonstrates that female managers who mistreat their subordinates suffer more severe negative consequences than male managers. Researchers presume this is because women (but not men) are penalized for acting incongruently with communality prescriptions (i.e., being insufficiently kind). However, integrating this work with the broader literature on gender and leadership, gendered reactions to mistreatment could also—or alternatively—be explained by incongruence with high agency proscriptions (i.e., being too dominant). We model these mechanisms simultaneously in a moderated mediation model across three studies, and find that employees are less trusting of female than male managers because they interpret interpersonal justice violations from women as incongruent with low agency prescriptions. Our results challenge a prevailing assumption in the mistreatment literature by revealing that female managers suffer more severe relational consequences than male managers because their violation of interpersonal justice is construed as excessively agentic, whereas these behaviors are viewed as similarly contravening communality for both male and female managers. By directly testing and correctly specifying the mechanism through which manager gender can shape social exchange processes in the aftermath of manager mistreatment, our studies have scientific and practical implications.

EXAMINING THE ROLE OF AGE STEREOTYPES FOR DEVELOPMENT IN CONTEXT

Abstract This session will focus on age stereotypes, that is, beliefs individuals hold about older adults and the aging process. Two types of age stereotypes will be addressed: those related to how older adults are assumed to be (i.e., descriptive stereotypes) and those related to how older adults should be (i.e., prescriptive stereotypes). Age stereotypes have been shown to be incorporated into older adults’ self-concepts (via stereotype internalization) and to influence their development in old age by shaping their expectations, motivations, and behaviors (stereotype embodiment). Considering the relevance of age stereotypes for developmental outcomes, the talks in this symposium will address how they shape individual aging and to what extent age stereotypes and their effects on development are context dependent. The first two presentations focus on cross-cultural differences in age stereotypes. de Paula Couto et al. examine prescriptive age stereotypes across different countries and investigate underlying factors that may influence their differential endorsement. Fung and Fung investigate cultural and age-related differences in the internalization of age stereotypes. The developmental consequences of negative age stereotypes will be addressed by Kornadt et al., whereas their malleability and specificity will be examined by Wirth et al. The last talk by Degen et al. will focus on the fear of loneliness in older adults, and how it affects their motivation to engage in behaviors that can prevent being lonely in old age.

You’re Too Old for That! Ageism and Prescriptive Stereotypes in the Workplace

AbstractUsing a vignette-based design, the current study addresses the question of what happens when a worker violates prescriptive age identity stereotypes (i.e., does not act in ways that align with cultural expectations for people in their age group). The study extends prior research by including a mixed adhering-violating condition, investigating the effects of prescriptive stereotype violation on the application of descriptive age stereotypes, and examining the role of negative affect (a composite of frustration, irritation, and annoyance) as a mediating mechanism in the prescriptive stereotyping process. Results indicate that violators of prescriptive age stereotypes are perceived more negatively in terms of warmth, competence, and desire for workplace interactions. Exhibiting some adhering and some violating behaviors largely did not lessen the effects of violation. The idea that some descriptive age stereotypes would be applied less often to violators did receive some support. Frustration was shown to be a useful mechanism for explaining prescriptive stereotyping effects, but the general absence of age of participant effects raises new questions regarding the role of expectancy violation in this process. Taken together, these findings offer an extension of the research on prescriptive age stereotypes to the workplace context, show that there can be a cost to violating prescriptive age stereotypes, and provide insight into potential mechanisms. We provide several suggestions for expanding this work, including the consideration of the intersection of age with other identity groups and ways to explore the roles of expectancy violations and perceived subjective age in the prescriptive stereotyping process.

What is (Non-)Feminine and What is (Non-)Masculine? Negative Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes of Young Women in Poland - Between Change and Return to Traditional Patterns

The research presented in the article focused on negative prescriptive stereotypes of femininity and masculinity. The aim of the research performed was to identify definitions of non-femininity and non-masculinity of student women. The study was conducted using a diagnostic survey method and a self-completed survey questionnaire on a randomly selected sample of 1152 female students. Statistical processing was performed in the PS IMAGO statistical package. Analysis revealed that female students’ definitions of non-femininity and non-masculinity mainly reflect the traditional model of femininity and masculinity, but attitudes towards the obligatory validity of this model are waning.

Detained change? Negative prescriptive stereotypes and cognitive gender schemas of polish female students

Detained change? Negative prescriptive stereotypes and cognitive gender schemas of polish female students

"Burnt by the spotlight": How leadership endorsements impact the longevity of female leaders.

Women entering leadership positions such as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) role face barriers in the form of pervasive stereotypic expectations by which stakeholders implicitly evaluate their effectiveness. In this study, we examine the effects that a widely used organizational practice-leadership endorsements in the CEO succession announcement-has on female CEOs' longevity in the CEO role. In particular, we theorize that the leadership endorsements of incoming female CEOs that highlight their past achievements and competence violate stakeholders' prescriptive stereotypes, thereby increasing the likelihood of stakeholders viewing the female leaders through a stereotypical lens. Therefore, though well intentioned, leadership endorsements in female CEOs' succession announcements foment a stereotype threat situation that is likely to have long-term negative consequences for female leaders. We investigate and find support for this relationship using archival data for a sample of 91 female CEO successions among S&P 1500 and Fortune 500 firms between 1995 and 2012. Several post hoc analyses, including in-depth interviews with 31 female executives, further strengthen our findings and show that this effect does not occur among male CEO succession events. We also find that two key facets of the succession context work to ameliorate this negative relationship: the insider status of the female CEO and the number of female executives at the focal firm. Our findings suggest that ostensibly gender-neutral practices can have unintended negative consequences for female leaders. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Fear of Backlash Moderates Female Senior Executives' Communion (but Not Agency) as Compared to Female Lecturers.

Today, many women work in occupational roles that had once been dominated by men (e.g., senior business executives). However, expectations on senior executives to be agentic (e.g., assertive, dominant) may conflict with prescriptive stereotypes about women to be communal (e.g., helpful, warm). According to this double-bind dilemma, female senior executives get criticized for lacking either agency or communion as both dimensions can be perceived as posing a tradeoff. We hypothesize that female senior executives report higher levels of agency and lower levels of communion than women in a more neutral role (e.g., lecturers) due to the perceived requirements of these occupational roles. In Study 1, N = 212 students rated adjectives on their desirability for men vs. women in Chinese society. They rated agentic characteristics as more desirable for men and communal characteristics as more desirable for women. Studies 2 and 3 used this material. Study 2 randomly assigned N = 207 female students to the role of a senior executive vs. lecturer. Study 3 was conducted with N = 202 female role occupants (96 senior executives, 106 lecturers). As expected, female senior executives reported higher levels of agency and lower levels of communion than female lecturers in both studies. Some women may be particularly aware of the above-mentioned double-bind dilemma and may be more worried about the potential backlash than others. They may attempt to reconcile occupational demands (i.e., higher agency, lower communion) with prescriptive gender stereotypes (i.e., lower agency, higher communion). We, therefore, explored whether fear of backlash attenuates the effect of the type of role of women (senior executives vs. lecturers) on agency and communion. Indeed, we found that senior executives who were particularly worried about backlash reported almost as much communion as lecturers did. In contrast, senior executives consistently reported higher levels of agency than lecturers regardless of their fear of backlash. The present study documents prescriptive gender stereotypes in China, how women differ as a function of their occupational roles, and how fear of backlash may motivate female senior executives to reconcile having high levels of both agency and communion.

The Status of Women in Leadership

The Status of Women in Leadership

Ugandan Adolescents’ Descriptive Gender Stereotypes About Domestic and Recreational Activities, and Attitudes About Women

In Eastern Uganda, 201 adolescents aged 11- to 17-years old (48% girls; Mage = 14.62) answered close- and open-ended questions about gender stereotypes of domestic and recreational activities and gender-role attitudes about women’s behavior, rights, and roles. Adolescents answered questions such as “who is more likely to . . .?” assessing descriptive stereotypes (i.e., stereotype knowledge) and questions such as “is it ok for women to . . .?” assessing prescriptive stereotypes (i.e., stereotype endorsement) about gender roles. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, correlations, and thematic coding. Findings indicate that Ugandan adolescents were fairly egalitarian in some domains (e.g., leisure and recreation) but were non-egalitarian in other domains (e.g., marital and domestic roles). Adolescents held a mix of gender-stereotyped and non-stereotyped views about domestic and recreational activities as well as attitudes about women. Findings present reasons for hope and for continued work toward gender equality in Uganda. Results may inform interventions that foster gender egalitarian attitudes in youth.

Transgender and Cisgender Children’s Stereotypes and Beliefs About Others’ Stereotypes

Early in childhood, children already have an awareness of prescriptive stereotypes—or beliefs about what a girl or boy should do (e.g., “girls should play with dolls”). In the present work, we investigate the relation between children’s own prescriptive gender stereotypes and their perceptions of others’ prescriptive gender stereotypes within three groups of children previously shown to differ in their prescriptive stereotyping—6- to 11-year-old transgender children (N = 93), cisgender siblings of transgender children (N = 55), and cisgender controls (N = 93). Cisgender and transgender children did not differ in their prescriptive stereotypes or their perceptions of others’ prescriptive stereotypes, though the relationship between these variables differed by group. The more cisgender control children believed others held prescriptive stereotypes, the more they held those stereotypes, a relation that did not exist for transgender children. Further, all groups perceived the stereotypes of others to be more biased than their own stereotypes.

DO NOT BECOME A BURDEN: ACTIVATION AND DISENGAGEMENT PRESCRIPTIVE AGE STEREOTYPES

Prescriptive age stereotypes encompass activation (active-aging) and disengagement expectations (succession-consumption-identity). We investigated whether activation and disengagement represent opposite stereotypes or whether they exemplify the overarching norm that older adults should not become a burden to other people and society. Based on data of the Ageing-as-Future project (N=743 German participants, 40-90 years old) our findings support the idea that activation and disengagement represent a single superordinate prescriptive age stereotype: (a) items assessing prescriptive age stereotypes form a single factor comprising activation and disengagement, (b) activation and disengagement show an increase in the strength of personal endorsement over the lifespan, demonstrating an internalization of these stereotypes as people become older, and (c) relations to reference variables show that internalized prescriptive stereotypes are more strongly associated with preparation for age-related changes, reflecting an internalization of the norm that one should take individual responsibility for their age rather than enjoying life in old age.

"Why Can't I Become a Manager?"-A Systematic Review of Gender Stereotypes and Organizational Discrimination.

Women continue to lag behind for accessing managerial positions, partially due to discrimination at work. One of the main roots of such discrimination is gender stereotyping, so we aim to comprehend those biased procedures. First, we have analyzed those highlighted gender lawsuit cases in the scientific literature that have dealt with stereotypes both in the American and the European work contexts. Second, meta-analytic studies regarding organizational consequences of gender stereotypes have been synthetized. Third, gender stereotypes have been grouped by means of a content analysis of the existing literature after processing 61 articles systematically retrieved from WOS, SCOPUS, and PsycINFO databases. As a result, a taxonomy of gender stereotypes has been achieved evidencing that descriptive and prescriptive stereotypes have an impact on decision-making procedures through the apparently perception of women as less suitable for managerial positions. Moreover, we offer a deep explanation of the gender discrimination phenomenon under the umbrella of psychosocial theories, and some measures for successfully overcoming management stereotyping, showing that organizational culture can be improved from both the perspective of equal employment opportunities and the organizational justice frameworks for reaching a balanced and healthier workplace.

Bargaining while Black: The role of race in salary negotiations.

The influence of race in negotiations has remained relatively underexplored. Across three studies, we theorize and find that Black job seekers are expected to negotiate less than their White counterparts and are penalized in negotiations with lower salary outcomes when this expectation is violated; especially when they negotiate with an evaluator who is more racially biased (i.e., higher in social dominance orientation). Specifically, on the basis of the prescriptive stereotype held by those higher in racial bias-that Black (as compared to White) negotiators deserve lower salaries-we predicted that Black negotiators who behave in counterstereotypical ways encounter greater resistance and more unfavorable outcomes from more biased evaluators. We tested this argument in a stepwise fashion: In Study 1, we found that more biased evaluators expect Black job seekers to negotiate less as compared to White job seekers. When Black negotiators violate those expectations, evaluators award them lower starting salaries (Study 2), which appears to occur because evaluators become more resistant to making concessions to Black than to White job seekers (Study 3). Collectively, our findings demonstrate that racially biased perceptual distortions can be used to justify the provision of smaller monetary awards for Black job seekers in negotiations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Politicisation of Abortion, Voters’ Stereotypes and the Electoral Success of Women Candidates

Gendered stereotypes about politicians are widespread in the electorate. This article analyses whether such stereotypes impact electoral results in a proportional representation open list system where candidates do not only compete against candidates from other parties but also compete against other members of their party. Borrowing from the literature on ‘gender issue ownership’, we evaluate whether female candidates who favour abortion, and thus conform to the prescriptive gendered stereotype regarding women’s policy stances, have an electoral advantage. Using Swiss survey data, we compare the national election of 2007, where the issue of abortion was not salient, with the national election of 2011, where the issue was politicized. Results indicate that, in the context of a public debate on abortion, candidates’ position on gendered issues matter for women’s election prospects, but not for men. Women who hold more liberal preferences on abortion are electorally more successful than liberal-minded men and women who have a more conservative stance on abortion. Our findings indicate that prescriptive stereotypes matter in contexts where intra-party competition is likely and gender equality issues are salient.

Obituaries of Female and Male Leaders From 1974 to 2016 Suggest Change in Descriptive but Stability of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes

We analyzed 1415 newspaper obituaries of female and male leaders published in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from 1974 to 2016, covering a time-span of 42 years, to investigate change in descriptive and prescriptive gender stereotypes. The obituaries’ content was condensed to four categories: agency, competence, and communion were used to investigate changes in descriptive stereotypes. The category likability was used to infer changes in prescriptive stereotypes. Consistent with theories claiming changeability of stereotypes, our results indicate changes in descriptive stereotypes. Female leaders were described as increasingly agentic over time, but not as increasingly competent. Descriptions regarding communion remained unchanged. In contrast, the description of male leaders remained relatively stable at first, followed by changes in recent years, where men were described as decreasingly competent and increasingly communal. Simultaneously, our results support theories suggesting stability of stereotypes over time indicating unchanged prescriptive stereotypes. Accordingly, increases in female leaders’ agency were associated with decreases in likability. In male leaders, increases in communion were associated with decreases in likability. Overall, our results reconcile divided theories regarding the changeability of gender stereotypes. Furthermore, our results emphasize that research and praxis need to enhance attention on prescriptive stereotypes to facilitate female leadership.

Comparing Prescriptive and Descriptive Gender Stereotypes About Children, Adults, and the Elderly.

Gender stereotypes have descriptive components, or beliefs about how males and females typically act, as well as prescriptive components, or beliefs about how males and females should act. For example, women are supposed to be nurturing and avoid dominance, and men are supposed to be agentic and avoid weakness. However, it is not clear whether people hold prescriptive gender stereotypes about children of different age groups. In addition, research has not addressed prescriptive gender stereotypes for the elderly. The current research measured prescriptive gender stereotypes for children, adults, and elderly men and women in 3 studies to (a) compare how prescriptive gender stereotypes change across age groups and (b) address whether stereotypes of males are more restrictive than stereotypes of females. Students (Studies 1 and 2) and community members (Study 3), which were all U.S. and majority White samples, rated how desirable it was for different target groups to possess a list of characteristics from 1 (very undesirable) to 9 (very desirable). The target age groups included toddlers, elementary-aged, adolescent, young adult, adult, and elderly males and females. The list of 21 characteristics was created to encompass traits and behaviors relevant across a wide age range. In a meta-analysis across studies, prescriptive stereotypes were defined as characteristics displaying a sex difference of d > 0.40 and an average rating as desirable for positive prescriptive stereotypes (PPS) or undesirable for negative proscriptive stereotypes (NPS) for male or females of each age group. Results replicated previous research on prescriptive stereotypes for adults: Women should be communal and avoid being dominant. Men should be agentic, independent, masculine in appearance, and interested in science and technology, but avoid being weak, emotional, shy, and feminine in appearance. Stereotypes of boys and girls from elementary-aged to young adults still included these components, but stereotypes of toddlers involved mainly physical appearance and play behaviors. Prescriptive stereotypes of elderly men and women were weaker. Overall, boys and men had more restrictive prescriptive stereotypes than girls and women in terms of strength and number. These findings demonstrate the applicability of prescriptive stereotypes to different age groups.

Translating like a conduit? A sociosemiotic analysis of modality in Chinese government press conference interpreting

AbstractThis paper is a corpus-based sociosemiotic inquiry into the translation of linguistic modality in government press conferences in the Chinese context, with an eye to its indication of interpreter’s identity. Viewing translation (including interpreting) as a process of social semiosis, the paper draws on theoretical insights from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and applies them to the analysis of modality in both English and Chinese – the language pair that concerns the present research. Results of the study show that, while modality distribution in the two languages are basically maintained at the same level, interchangeable uses between volitive and obligatory subtypes of modality plus the general increase of modality value in interpreted vis-à-vis source speeches indicate that interpreters are not deprived of mediating latitude which is believed to contradict their prescriptive stereotypes. Also, exemplary parallel concordance analysis of modality reveals that interpreters adopt various solutions to translating the same modal element. Further, the paper proposes a taxonomy for the analysis of modality shifts in interpreter-mediated encounters, with illustrative cases of each subclass examined and discussed. The findings are expected to shed light on the interpreter’s identity in political institutional settings.